Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 1, 2011 -- As many of us have discovered, the glamour queen (or king) we might be first attracted to often doesn't turn out to be as enchanting in the long term as the quiet beauty in the back of the room. A similar phenomenon happens with best places to retire lists, so last year we came out with a list of "The Most Under-Rated Places to Retire". Our readers seemed to like the concept, so here we go again with our 2011 list: More Under-Rated Places to Retire. Part 3 in the series was published in 2014 (see bottom of article for link).
We started with our search for this year's list by using the Topretirements "Retirement Ranger". There we specified these criteria:
1. Lower than average cost of living
2. Average January temperature above 40 degrees (F.), (we'll do a similar list
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Published on February 1, 2011
Comments 66
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
The inadequate consolation of losing our parents is that our loss is usually associated with the prospect of receiving an inheritance. As baby boomers age and their parents start to reach old age, the inevitability of that happening grows ever more imminent. In 2007, 58% of baby boomers had at least 1 living parent.
The Center for Retirement Research of Boston College completed an intriguing research project not too long ago - "How Important Are Inheritances for Baby Boomers". In the study a panel of subjects born before 1954 were asked about the probability of and how much they might expect for an inheritance in the next 10 years. The results of the survey indicate that about two-thirds of baby boomers expect to receive an inheritance of some amount. Obviously, the wealthiest
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Published on February 1, 2011
Comments 3
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
February 8, 2011 -- Having left the prized 18-45 year old marketing demographic, baby boomers might be justified in feeling a little bit like yesterday's donuts - not all that appealing and a bit stale. But thanks to our sheer numbers (as in 76 million), sales hungry marketeers appear to be putting baby boomers back in their sights. And believe it or not, that's probably good news for us (but more about that later). This Sunday's New York Times talked about the phenomenon in its "In a Graying Population, Business Opportunity" article. The Wall Street Journal weighed in
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Published on February 8, 2011
Comments 8
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Although it is true that most baby boomers feel poorly prepared for retirement on a financial basis, millions of them are very well heeled. Bank of America released its latest Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly in January, which was based on a survey examining the values, financial priorities and concerns of affluent Americans. The survey found that the vast majority (84 percent) of affluent baby boomers (in this survey, boomers aged 46 - 64 who had investment assets of $250,000 or more) believe that their "retirement" will differ from that of their parents. These baby boomers see those differences as positive - 86 percent intend to live a more active lifestyle, and 72 percent believe they will enjoy a higher
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Published on February 8, 2011
Comments 3
Category: Active adult communities
Updated December 21, 2017, originally published February 11, 2011
This is Part 1 of a 2 Part series. Part 1 covers competitors in the West, while Part 2 discusses alternatives to The Villages in the East.
We frequently get a question just like this one - "We have visited The Villages (TV) and we love it - it is our first choice for retirement. But before we commit, are there any other age-restricted communities that are remotely the same size or offer a similar range of amenities"?
The good news is that, although no other community comes close to the mega-size of The Villages, there are least 16 other active communities with over 10,000 residents. That represents a size sufficiently large to provide a comparable range of amenities and clubs to those enjoyed by the over 100,000 residents of The Villages. In addition, there is another large group of communities with more than 5,000 homes which also have
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Published on February 11, 2011
Comments 51
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 14, 2011 -- As so many of our members and visitors are learning from ScottP's excellent Forum posts, it is so interesting to learn from the retirement adventures of other folks. In this article we are indebted to Betty and Jim (not their real names), who were kind enough to shared with us their in-depth observations about their search for the ideal place to retire. Read on to learn more...
Betty and Jim
We would love to stay here in on the southern NC coast- the weather, the community, the proximity to the beach, etc. are great. But, the development is getting younger, it does not have golfing opportunities that fit our needs, and has minimal activities comparable to some place like The Villages (TV). And, we are just feeling the urge to strike out, find news friends, and enter a new segment in our lives when Betty retires. It also is much easier for us because we have no family in the area, so our location will not
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Published on February 14, 2011
Comments 70
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
By Brendan Cruickshank
Editor's Note: Thanks to Brendan for this very helpful article. We asked him what he meant by using the word "restless". Here is what he said: "The reason I chose 'restless' is because I find it ironic how many people retire only to realize it wasn't really retirement they had been seeking their entire life. Rather it was the chance to do what they love......and many find that by continuing to work!"
Retirement is like the weather...it keeps changing all the time. Many years ago, the word evoked an image of an elderly person lying in a hammock all day sipping lemonade. But today's retiree is by and large a completely different animal. To an increasing extent, folks today are retiring from their primary jobs only to turn right around and seek some form of full or part-time employment elsewhere. In some cases, it is out of necessity. But many others are finding that they are still active and vibrant in their "retirement" years and they get restless - they discover that by mixing in some work along with their play provides the ideal
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Published on February 15, 2011
Comments 8
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Note: This was our 2011 List. Here is the link to our 2016 List of 100 Best Places to Retire
February 22, 2011 – The Sunbelt continues to dominate when it comes to the places that baby boomers are considering for retirement. Topretirements.com has just published its 5th annual list of the 100 most popular places to retire on its site, and this year the trend toward the Sunbelt continues even stronger -- 77 of the 100 top positions were held by towns in the Sunbelt. Florida dominated the list, taking 26 of the spots (it held 23 in 2010), followed by North Carolina (11) and South Carolina and Arizona (7 each). Note: We will be updating this article for 2012 in late January, 2012. To make sure you don’t miss our new list, sign up for our free weekly “Best Places to Retire” newsletter. See also "The Worst States for Retirement - 2012".
The Top 10
As has been the case since Topretirements published its first list in 2007, Asheville, NC was the #1 town on the list, receiving almost 20 times as many page visits as Cuenca (Ecuador), which squeezed onto the list in the #100 position (and is one of 2 non USA towns on the list). Asheville's mountains, gentle 4 seasons climate, and recreational/cultural opportunities provide the standard that all other retirement towns can aspire to. Sarasota (FL) Prescott (AZ) continued as the # 2 and #3 most popular towns. Fort Myers (FL) moved up to 4th position, and Venice (FL) cracked the top 10 list in 2010. Austin (TX) moved up from
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Published on February 22, 2011
Comments 41
Category: Active adult communities
Note: Since this article was written we have added "Part 2: On the Lake, Where Living (in Retirement) Is Easy", with 10 more great lake towns for retirement.
February 25, 2011 -- Who wouldn't want to retire beside a lake? Just thinking about the sound of lapping waves or a distant motor boat, or of a cool breeze carrying the scent of the water, is enough to make our mind jump to pleasant scenes from "On Golden Pond". Combine that peaceful idyll with the idea of a low-maintenance community with non-stop activities, and we're ready to go!
Not every lake has active communities near or on it. But there are many that do. This article will give a brief sample of lake towns that have active communities on or near them. We'll also give details on how to find more. There are 65 towns in the Topretirements database that are identified as...
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Published on February 25, 2011
Comments 17
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 28, 2011 -- We'll confess, one of the things we are most curious about is the answer to this question - where do our Topretirements members move to when they finally reach their decision? Our hope is that by the time they have read our newsletter articles, studied the reviews of the many towns and active communities on the site, visited their top candidates - they ultimately make what turns out to be a happy decision. Note: We reported on this same subject with earlier member responses in 2010.
We don't have perfect knowledge of what actually happens when a member moves, because we only hear from a tiny fraction of our membership base. Surprisingly, a lot of people email to tell us they have made a decision - but for one reason or another they don't
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Published on February 27, 2011
Comments 7
